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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt/Saale /Krankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn GmbH:Strike called off after three and a half hours of negotiationBad Neustadt a.d. Saale/Attendorn, 26 May 2002. ----- On Friday, 24 May2002,after three and a half hours of negotiation, the collective bargainerscame toan understanding on the basis of the inhouse collective bargainingagreementproposed by Rhön-Klinikum AG for Krankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn.Followingsignature of the bargaining counts, the strike measures were called off.Whilethe negotiated agreement has already been accepted by the Wages Council whorepresents the employee side, the usual ballot vote is still pending as isthefinal approval by the Board of Management of Rhön-Klinikum AG (RKA) on theowner/employer side. Subject to these formalities, the strike measures atKrankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn, which obviously served some politicalends of certain labour circles, were called off.This strike, the first at a Rhön-Klinikum hospital, lasted more than sixweeks.Notably, only about 34 of the hospital s around 430 employees had gone onstrike. During the dispute, the labour union, ver.di, stated publiclythat, byadhering to public services wage structures, it aims at preventing hospitalprivatisation in general and take-overs by Rhön-Klinikum AG, in particular.Moreover, in a circular sent out to all its offices, ver.di recommends tousethe strike in Attendorn for agitation purposes. Consequentially, ver.di soffice in Villingen-Schwenningen (South Germany) addressed a letter to relevantpoliticians and mandatories in order to disqualify Rhön-Klinikum AG frompotential hospital take-overs. This makes clear that the labour disputewas apolitical strike, principally motivated by unionist hard-core thinking,whichRhön-Klinikum AG could not tolerate for overriding reasons, as the Group sbasis of success would have been jeopardized had the unionist intention wonthrough.The negotiated wage agreement enables the hospital to embark upon thenecessaryrestructuring measures which it will pursue vigorously without prejudiceto itsemployees social interests. The implementation of the Rhön-Klinikumconceptwill now no longer be hindered by wage discussions with the labour union.Withregard to future hospital take-overs, the Board of Management ofRhön-KlinikumAG hopes that the agreement reached in Attendorn will lay the foundationfor aforward-looking, constructive co-operation with ver.di and that this co-operation will in future be unimpaired by ideological hostilities.The settlement of the wage dispute has also meant a decisive step towardseliminating the negative factors that have weighed on the Group s 2002firstquarter results.end of message, (c)DGAP 26.05.2002